Knowledge is with me. Where am I?

It seems to be a good thing to think about the steps in both words and pictures. It seems to be a good thing to put a post with this picture along with the other posts which mention Step 2.

I am currently on the Step 42 Review, the second time through Steps to Knowledge.

I am currently blogging about Step 95, “How can I possibly fulfill myself?” I seem to be on a bit of a dither. I am confronted with the inadequacy of my words to convey the experience. If I write something about Step 95, and someone reads it, without grasping the significant amount of preparation that has taken place in Steps 1 through 94, have I helped?

I have made photoquotes for Step 1 through Step 16, “Beyond my mind is Knowledge,” without doing the Review steps (Steps 7 and 14). I’m managing to keep the photoquotes page current, more or less. I am experiencing a certain flow of enthusiasm regarding photoquotes.

I have only made posts of photoquotes for the first two steps. This may take a while, but I’d like to believe I’ll get around to it.

Knowledge is with me. Where am I? I am a little of the way up the mountain. I am a student. I am a marginally competent student. I am a student who is increasing in competence. I am someone who is doing the work of reclaiming Knowledge. I am someone who is learning to learn without fear, without ambition. If Knowledge possesses a perfect utilization of my nature, then where do I sign up?

Alisa writes:

This picture shows up on many spiritual websites that address purpose, meaning and direction in life, but I do not know who made it. It resonated with me because when I did Step 2, I saw myself standing at the bottom of a stairway, a stairway leading upwards, with something gleaming and beckoning at the top. Knowledge shines like a beacon and I have the urge to reach it. Where am I? I am at the bottom ready to ascend.

In the big Step 49 review, the phrase “Knowledge is with you” is used as a sort of benediction upon the efforts of the student:

“You have come this far. Congratulations! You have passed the first test. Be encouraged now to proceed, for Knowledge is with you.”

Knowledge is with me

And here we are now at Step 58. The previous step was Step 57, “Freedom is with me,” and therefore I get the idea that part of the point of the Step is building a connection between freedom and Knowledge.

What kind of bridge has been built so far, between where I normally live and where Knowledge abides, in the time between Step 2 and Step 58? I don’t recall having any remarkable experiences of Knowledge during this time. I had a happy feeling of demonstrating to myself a certain degree of seriousness as a student. I had a happy feeling that I was following the directions to the best of my ability.

After feeling encouraged by the words in Step 1 assuring me that although I am not with Knowledge, Knowledge is nevertheless with me, I was confronted in Step 2 with having to consider the unsettling question of well, where are you, then?
I am not with Knowledge, this I can accept. However, I have also accepted that Knowledge resides in the part of my mind to which I have not yet gained access. I see this as giving me a certain advantage. I don’t have what I want, but I know where to find it. I am not on some aimless journey, going whither, I don’t know where, and looking for something, I don’t know what. I have a destination, and when I reach this destination, I will know my true self, my true mind and my true relationships in the universe. This seems to be something worth striving for.

So when asked to think about where I am, I see myself in my mind’s eye as standing at the bottom of a stairway, a stairway leading up a mountain, with something gleaming and beckoning at the top.

I am still without Knowledge, but I am striving to reach it, I am looking for ways to access that place where it resides, looking for ways to understand.

This may seem like a tall order.

However, on the Forum of the Free School of the New Message, I was assured by another student in response to my sharing on Step 2 that “You have a journey to take. It will be for the rest of your life. You will learn along the way how to know. It will take time and effort. It will take Steps to Knowledge. It will take consistency and perseverance.”

Encouraged by the understanding that this is not a race, but a journey of a lifetime, and I will learn along the way, I boldly take the next step.

Step 49 of Steps to Knowledge, like the other Steps evenly divisible by 7, is a review. But it is a review of the all of the Steps done so far. Steps 1 through 6 will therefore be reviewed three times, as they were reviewed in Step 7, Step 14, and Step 49. All the other steps will be reviewed twice, as they were reviewed in their own review step, and in Step 49.

This step contains the first instance of the word “Congratulations” in Steps to Knowledge. I don’t consider this a word of idle flattery. I say anyone who has arrived at this point has demonstrated some openness of mind and some resolve.

The current plan is to write a series of posts, sharing what I wrote when I did the Step 49 Review, seven posts at a time, and adding any additional comment if needed.

Step 1 – I am without Knowledge now – “Nothing particularly controversial, although I have no idea what they mean by ‘Ancient Home.’ Maybe the Mormons were right all along. As I have gone along, Knowledge has gotten bigger, greater, wiser.” The Mormons speak of a premortal existence, and their missionaries show a picture of a beautiful parklike place when they speak of it.

Step 2 – Knowledge is with me. Where am I? – “Where am I? ‘Flopping about on the surface of my mind, imagining that’s all there is.’ I want Knowledge to make me non-autistic, but Knowledge seems to have other plans.” I was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, a mild form of autism, in 2006.

Step 3 – What do I really know? – “I seem to recall thinking there were some things I knew at the time, but now I’m not so sure if I know anything.”

Step 4 – I want what I think I know – “I think I know that the world needs a hero, and that I want to be one.” On further review, maybe heroic ambitions are part of the problem.

Step 5 – I believe what I want to believe – “I recall thinking when I did this step ‘I believe what I want to believe in order to survive, reproduce, have power, have pleasure, and avoid responsibility.’ I am screwed, humanity is screwed, living in a world of delusion.”

Step 6 – I have a true foundation in the world – “Steps bounce back and forth between confessions of the current state of bewilderment, and the alternative good news. Telling me that I haven’t come to the world empty-handed was/is a great consolation, as I have been a problem for the past 30 years.” Ok, ok, that’s definitely overdramatizing things. I’ve had many happy moments, but I’ve also had many issues and disappointments. Some of them might have been because my unknown-at-the-time autistic tendencies, and some of them might have been because of prosaic poor choices.

Step 7 – Review – “Whatever I think Knowledge is, that ain’t it. Furthermore, what I think I know is part of the problem. I feel the way I think, I think the way I believe, and any correspondence between what I believe and what is so is purely coincidental.”

When a student of Steps to Knowledge gets to step 8, she might be thinking “Ok, I get the point. Knowledge is a big deal. They’ve called it a Big Deal by speaking of it in three distinct Uncommonly Capitalized terms in two of the seven steps I’ve taken already (Step 1 and Step 2). They said the point of the first six steps was to hammer home the ideas that Knowledge is something different than what I think or want or believe, and that it is something of which I am in need. Fine. What do I do to get it?”

To me, it’s as if step 8, “I will be still today,” answers that question “Glad you asked, friend, glad you asked!” There are various techniques in the world for stilling the wanderings of the mind, for rescuing the lambkins of one’s thoughts, lost in the wilderness of restlessness. One of them is introduced in this step.

Some people say “Thus-and-such technique of attaining stillness is surely the greatest technique ever devised!” Others say “On the contrary, this alternative technique of stilling one’s mind I am using must surely become the technique used by all mankind!” Kabir says “Don’t get hung up on any particular technique, but instead focus on one’s motivation.”

O, FRIEND! hope for him whilst you live, know whilst you live, understand whilst you live, for in life deliverance abides.
If your bonds be not broken whilst living, what hope of deliverance in death?
It is but an empty dream, that the soul shall have union with Him because it has passed from the body;
If He is found now, He is found then
If not, we do but go to dwell in the City of Death.
If you have union now, you shall have it hereafter.
Bathe in the truth, know the true Guru, have faith in the true Name!
Kabir says “It is the Spirit of the quest which helps; I am the slave of this Spirit of the quest.”

When I was a child, I had a world globe. I recall the ocean portions of the globe having many small red arrows on them, describing the major ocean currents. Between then and now, our ability to observe ocean currents has advanced significantly, as this video demonstrates.

The movement of the ocean is an analogy for the activity of the mind in the New Message from God. At the surface of the ocean, water is moving about in every direction. An observer at the surface would be hard pressed to prove that the water is following any specific direction. But in the depths of the ocean, the ocean currents are much more consistent, so much so that scientists use the phrase “global conveyor belt” to describe the phenomena.

This step drops more hints as to the nature of Knowledge:

“Knowledge represents your True Self, your True Mind and your true relationships in the universe. It also possesses your greater calling in the world and a perfect utilization of your nature, all of your inherent abilities and skills, even your limitations—all to be given for good in the world.”

I take great comfort in this, as I haven’t done a very good job so far of utilizing my nature, in my opinion. I take great comfort in this, as my limitations have been a hindrance so far in my contributing to the world, in my opinion.

The practice is to spend three 10-minute periods thinking about where I am, not just physically or geographically, but where you are in terms of my awareness of myself in the world. My answer to the question “Knowledge is with me. Where am I?” was “Thrashing and flailing on the surface of my mind.”

Source Documents

God Has Spoken Again
God is speaking to humanity anew, proclaiming a warning, a blessing and a preparation for a new world reality.

The One God
A book of revelation that provides a new understanding of the nature and reality of God and God’s Plan and Purpose in the world and in the Greater Community of life in the universe.

The New Messenger
A book of revelation regarding the origin, lineage and mission of the Messengers of God who, at different times in human history, have entered the world to receive and present New Revelations for humanity.

Relationships and Higher Purpose
Taking you beyond the normal parameters of human relationships to a deeper experience of union, purpose and meaning with those individuals with whom you share a greater destiny in life.

Steps to Knowledge
Taking you on the journey of discovering Knowledge, the mysterious source of your inner power and authority, given to you by God to guide and to protect you.

Living the Way of Knowledge
The New Message Teaching on how to bring the grace, the guidance and the power of Knowledge into the Four Pillars of your life: The Pillar of Relationships, The Pillar of Work, The Pillar of Health and The Pillar of Spiritual Development.

The Great Waves of Change
A prophecy of the difficult times ahead and the steps you can take to navigate an increasingly turbulent and uncertain future.

How Posts Are Organized – Как организуются сообщения

2) If a post is tagged with a given tag, it means either a) that post is part of a thread where all the posts in the thread have that tag (like "2012 Encampment" for example), or b) that an out-of-the-ordinary person, place or thing was referenced in the post (like "Boulder" for example)

4) Most of the posts written before August 2014 are related to the book "Steps to Knowledge," but were not tagged as such. A tag of the form "Step #" such as "Step 10" means the post with that tag is related to Step 10 of the 365 steps in Steps to Knowledge.